Folk-rock veterans Midlake are back with their new single ‘Bethel Woods’ from their upcoming album For The Sake of Bethel Woods. The official music video stars actor Michael Pena and is directed by filmmaker Brantley Gutierrez, who has also worked with the likes of Paul McCartney and Diplo.
Inspiration for “Bethel Woods” came after the discovery of a documentary still of Midlake keyboardist Jesse Chandler’s father, Dave, at Woodstock 1969. Combining this photo with the idea of an eternal paradise, the song was written from Dave’s point of view with a hopeful message that we might all one day return to our special places to be with the ones we love.
Director Gutierrez plays with these ideas in the music video by incorporating a ghost story concept, allowing for Michael Pena to showcase the emotions people experience when running through old memories.
Midlake will also be embarking on an extensive world tour, including NA, UK and European tour dates. Tickets and more information are available here.
Midlake 2022 Tour Dates
5/8 – Nashville, TN – 3rd & Lindsley
5/10 – Washington, DC – Union Stage
5/11 – Philadelphia, PA – World Cafe Live (Downstairs)
On Jan. 14, Long Island pop punk band, Lupopunk, released its second single, “Before You Go,” from their upcoming untitled EP.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa9SudVKJG0
Lupopunk’s previously released single, “Don’t Think I Forgot About You” from their upcoming EP.
On “Before You Go,” Lupopunk delivers a vintage pop punk performance, one that was frozen in ice back in 2003 and made to be thawed out under the blazing studio lights of an MTV stage. Except that MTV doesn’t play music anymore and pop punk turned out to be a fad. Which complicates the whole ordeal. How do you judge a good single from an outdated genre that barely holds any cultural bearing? Or should it not even matter because art should exist for its own sake and not to please, serve, and/or be sold to an audience?
Lupopunk’s recorded their new single “Before You Go” with John Naclerio of Nada Recordings.
If you’re a fan of pop punk Lupopunk’s new single, “Before You Go” is like a fond childhood memory that triggers a rush of emotions and a longing for a time when all the things you loved were at the center of your world. The powerful guitar riffs with the emphatic chords, the angst-ridden vocals, the drums which demand attention all combine to make for a true “they don’t make ‘em like they used to” performance.
When I first started Lupopunk it was going to be just an acoustic project…[but] I started to record that and demo it and realized that I’m going to finally do my pop punk stuff.
Matty Lupinacci, Lupopunk front man
Lupopunk’s lead vocalist, Matty Lupinacci, a long-time staple of the Long Island punk scene, will perform live for the first time in 14 years on Saturday 1/15 at the Massapequa VFW Hall.
Pop-rock trio Hanson announced their Red Green Blue Tour to follow a release of their new album Red Green Blue, with stops at Empire Live and The Beacon Theatre.
The band of brothers is a three-time Grammy-nominated pop-rock trio, selling over 16 million albums, and performing for over three million fans.
Hanson, photo by Jonathan Weiner.
Created in 1992 in Tulsa, OK, Hanson established a regional following before getting international fame, with a string of top 40 singles.
The new album Red Green Blue will be released on May 20, and it will mark 30 years of the band being together. Speaking about the milestone, they said this.
Going into our 30th year as a band we felt like it was imperative we continue to tell our story like only we can, and telling stories in ways that will continue to challenge us to grow and give people new reasons to listen. Red Green Blue is about sharing what has made us a band that has been able to weather so many storms.
Hanson’s tour will be stopping all over the globe, with two NYS stops. One will be at Empire Live in Albany and the other at the Beacon Theatre in NYC.
The band plans to release singles to accompany the album, one on February 11, one on March 11, and one on April 15.
Hanson
Tickets to see the Red Green Blue tour can be found here, with tickets going on sale at 10 AM local on January 20.
Hanson 2022 Tour Dates
EUROPE: JUNE 8 – Helsinki FINLAND – House of Culture 10 – Stockholm SWEDEN – Berns 12 – Oslo NORWAY – Vulkan Arena 13 – Goteborg SWEDEN – Pustervik 14 – Kolding DENMARK – Godset 16 – Hamburg GERMANY – Mojo 17 – Koln GERMANY – Gloria 18 – Munich GERMANY – Strom 20 – Milan ITALY – Magazzini Generali 22 – Paris FRANCE – La Cigale 23 – Brussels BELGIUM – AB 24 – Amsterdam NETHERLANDS – Melkweg 26 – Nottingham UK – Rock City 28 – Glasgow UK – SWG3 Galvanisers 29 – Manchester UK – O2 Ritz 30 – London UK – Roundhouse
JULY 2 – Bristol UK – O2 Academy 3 – Leeds UK – University – Stylus
NORTH AMERICA
JULY 12 – Houston TX – House of Blues 14 – New Orleans LA – The Joy Theater 15 – Nashville TN – Ryman Auditorium 16 – Atlanta GA – The Eastern 17 – St Petersburg FL – Jannus Live 19 – Birmingham AL – Alabama Theater 20 – Raleigh NC – The Ritz 22 – Richmond VA – The National 23 – Silver Spring MD – The Fillmore Silver Spring 24 – Philadelphia PA – The Fillmore Philadelphia 26 – Pittsburgh PA – Palace Theatre 28 – Albany NY – Empire Live 29 – Boston MA – House of Blues 30 – Hampton Beach NH – Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom 31 – New York NY – The Beacon Theatre
AUGUST 2 – Montreal QC – Corona Theatre 3 – Toronto ON – Danforth Music Hall 5 – Elizabeth IN – Ceasers Event Center 6 – Cleveland OH – Agora Theatre 7 – Detroit MI – Royal Oak Music Theatre 9 – Grand Rapids MI – 20 Monroe Live 10 – Indianapolis IN – Egyptian Room at Old National Centre 12 – St Louis MO – The Pageant 13 – Chicago IL – Aragon Ballroom 14 – Madison WI – The Sylvee 16 – Springfield MO – Gillioz Theatre 18 – Council Bluffs IA – Stir Cove at Harrah’s 19 – Minneapolis MN – The Fillmore Minneapolis 20 – Fargo ND – Fargo Brewing Company Outdoors 21 – Winnipeg, MB – Park Theater 23 – Calgary AB – The Palace Theatre 24 – Edmonton AB – Midway 26 – Vancouver BC – The Vogue Theatre 27 – Seattle WA – The Moore 28 – Portland OR – Crystal Ballroom 30 – San Francisco CA – The Fillmore 31 – Anaheim CA – House of Blues
SEPTEMBER 2 – Los Angeles CA – Ace Theatre 3 – San Diego CA – Humphrey’s Concerts By The Bay 4 – Phoenix AZ – The Van Buren 6 – Las Vegas NV – Brooklyn Bowl 7 – Salt Lake City UT – The Depot 9 – Denver CO – Paramount Theatre 10 – Kansas City MO – Uptown Theatre 11 – Wichita KS – Cotillion Ballroom 13 – Austin TX – Emo’s 14 – Dallas TX – House of Blues
LATIN AMERICA
SEPTEMBER 25 – Mexico City MEXICO – BlackBerry 27 – Guadalajara MEXICO – Teatro Diana 28 – Leon MEXICO – Foro de Lago 29 – Queretaro MEXICO – Teatro Metropolitan
OCTOBER 1 – Monterrey MEXICO – Pabellon M 4 – Santiago CHILE – Teatro Coliseo 6 – Buenos Aires ARGENTINA – Teatro Gran Rivadavia 8 – Montevideo URUGUAY – La Trastienda 11 – Porto Alegre BRAZIL – Teatro Bourbon Country 12 – Curitiba BRAZIL – Live Curitiba14 – Ribeirão Preto BRAZIL – Arena Eurobike 15 – Sao Paulo BRAZIL – Espaco Das Americas 16 – Uberlandia BRAZIL – Arena Sabiazinho 19 – Brasilia BRAZIL – Centro de Convencoes Ulyess Guimaraes 21 – Rio de Janeiro BRAZIL – Qualistage
Last winter, with the ongoing pandemic still raging, South African-born and American-raised guitarist Ari Joshua took a trip to the East Coast, specifically Burlington, VT, to work with Russ Lawton and Ray Paczkowski on a much-discussed organ trio collaboration. Now, this bicoastal musical endeavor has come to fruition in the form of the recently released, six-song EP RAAR, an acronym for the three musicians. With the assistance of Phish’s recording engineer Ben Collette, the trio churned out about 25 different tracks of Joshua-penned selections, mostly brand new compositions and concepts. The final product is a nifty little musical excursion that explores elements of jazz, rock, gospel, funk and everything in between.
The making of RAAR was both delayed and aided by Trey Anastasio Band’s eight-show residency at New York City’s Beacon Theatre the year before. While this would require the attention of bandmembers Lawton and Paczkowski, it also helped initiate the quarantine protocols that allowed Joshua to travel east and make this collaboration a reality. “I owe a great thank you to Trey Anastasio for opening the doors to a protocol to collaborate during his Beacon Theater run, and for sharing these great players with the world,” Joshua told Relix recently.
Russ Lawton, Ari Joshua, Ben Collette, Ray Paczkowski (l-r), photo courtesy of Ari Joshua
The EP is bookended with a couple of tributes to Joshua’s grandmothers. Fittingly, “Gramama” begins the musical journey. It’s a soul-fueled, uptempo number that has the feel of a Sunday celebration at church. Joshua mans the lead vocals with some heavenly female backup vocals added later while ebullient play on the Hammond organ from Paczkowski gives the opener a dash of zydeco flavor as well. “For Ray” sounds exactly how one would expect a Soule Monde “side project” to sound like. The steady, infectious shuffle drum beat from Lawton and aggressive organ and clav runs dominate this signature track while Joshua feathers in the occasional effect-laden guitar lick giving it a somewhat more psychedelic Medeski, Martin and Wood vibe. “Audio Bicycle Day” introduces some haunting background special effects behind motivated electric guitar play from Joshua whose Anastasio influences are omnipresent.
“The Bernie Meme” is a song named for exactly that, the viral meme of Bernie Sanders sitting cross-legged in the middle of winter. Joshua takes more of a lead with a beautifully simplistic guitar lick on another Soule Monde-ish number that hits on aspects of pop, soul and funk resulting in a delicious melting pot of sound. “Star Lord” is a fun romp from start to finish riddled with more psychedelic production and sees Paczkowski shifting nimbly back and forth between the clav and organ once more with Joshua delivering a slew of infectious jazz guitar fills. It’s one of the more cohesive and well-produced tracks on the EP. Lastly, “Rae of Life” serves as the other tribute for Joshua’s late grandmother and definitely evokes a celebration of life mantra, with its delicate guitar licks and soaring, inspirational organ fills atop choir-like backing vocals that gives the ending of RAAR a discernible feel-good quality to it.
From the first note of recording I could sense that Ray and Russ were a perfect musical fit, there was a shared respect and love for the music you don’t always find out there.
Ari Joshua
The band has no current tour plans but there is a vinyl release of RAAR expected later this year. For now, the album can be found at Ari Joshua’s website or on streaming platforms. Joshua is also the founder and owner of The Music Factory, an online music lessons portal which has been running for nearly 15 years, employing close to 100 musicians since its inception.
The Eagles have added two NY dates to their Hotel California tour, Belmont Park and Buffalo. The shows on this tour will feature a live performance of the album in its entirety, with an orchestra and choir, along with a full set of hits.
The Eagles consist of Don Henley, Joe Walsh, and Timothy B. Schmit. They were the best-selling American band of the ’70s, and their album Hotel California is the third best-selling U.S. album in history and won two GRAMMY Awards.
The Eagles by Ron Koch.
The Eagles have added a show at UBS Arena at Belmont Park in Long Island on April 23. The venue is home to the New York Islanders and hosts a variety of sports and entertainment events. This will be the first time in 16 years that the Eagles have performed in Long Island. The band also added a show at the Keybank Center located in downtown Buffalo.
The Eagles by Ron Koch.
The tour so far has received great praise, with Billboard saying, “The band performed the album from front to back, following with a blazing greatest hits set that had the audience at the sold-out arena constantly on its feet.” The LA Times said, “From the title track — a 6 1/2-minute flamenco-reggae ballad— to the elegiac closer ‘The Last Resort,’ it’s consummately performed.”
Tickets to the Hotel California Tour are found here, along with VIP Tickets. The newly added shows will be on sale January 14.
The Eagles Hotel California Tour Dates
Feb. 19 — Savannah, Ga. @ Enmarket Arena Feb. 21 — Charlotte, N.C. @ Spectrum Center Feb. 24 — Orlando, Fla. @ Amway Center Feb. 25 — Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. @ FLA Live Arena Feb. 28 — Tampa, Fla. @ Amalie Arena March 2 — Raleigh, N.C. @ PNC Arena March 4 — Atlanta, Ga. @ State Farm Arena March 17 — Cleveland, Ohio @ Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse*** March 19 — Chicago, Ill. @ United Center March 22 — Indianapolis, Ind. @ Gainbridge Fieldhouse March 24 — Detroit, Mich. @ Little Caesars Arena March 26 — Pittsburgh, Penn. @ PPG Paints Arena March 28 — Philadelphia, Penn. @ Wells Fargo Arena April 19 — Columbus, Ohio @ Nationwide Arena April 21 — Buffalo, N.Y. @ Keybank Center April 23 — Belmont Park, N.Y. @ UBS Arena April 28 — Nashville, Tenn. @ Bridgestone Arena May 14 — Houston, Texas @ Toyota Center May 16 — Tulsa, Okla. @ BOK Center May 19 — Austin, Texas @ Moody Center May 20 — Austin, Texas @ Moody Center May 25 — Salt Lake City, Utah @ Vivint Smart Home Arena ***tickets not available on Ticketmaster
Brooklyn post-punk band SAVAK release their new single “Cold Ocean,” with hints of a new album on the way.
Savak and “Cold Ocean.”
SAVAK is a two-headed machine led by Sohrab Habibion and Michael Jaworski, and Matt Shulz on drums. Jaworski and Habibion have been sharing the duties of singer and songwriter since the band’s creation in 2015.
All the members of the band played in bands in the 90s-The Obits, Holy Fuck, and The Cops. Their prior experience in 90s rock bands helps reform the sound of SAVAK, as touches of the scene are heard in their music.
SAVAK, photo by Taylor Sesselman.
“Cold Ocean” comes off the A-side digital single with the accompanying B-side “Adolescence Obsolete.” The single is guitar-heavy, and there is a lot of emphasis leading up to the big hook. The song has deep and meaningful lyrics, like the line, “Cold, cold ocean/Gonna break my neck/A wave of deep regret/I know we’ve already met.”
The video itself features SAVAK’s home of Brooklyn, with scenes occurring throughout the city. The video is funny and uses shifting colors from gray to light to emphasize mood shifts. The story follows “Walker Slim” and his hustle to hawk a ring to give to a lover that never shows.
To many, the term “hippie” is often associated with counterculture, drug-induced dreamers. Sure, they may have the right societal ideals, but they are often followed by eccentric and unconventional behavior with abstract resolutions instead of anything concrete. Others turn the hippie persona into an identity, becoming a caricature that further discredits a way of life that has many valid ideologies.
As the Hippie persona loses credibility within contemporary culture, up-and-coming duo, dp.thuH and blond.bomber, are looking to revive what it means to be against the grain. Collectively, the Pittsburgh (blond) and Toledo (dp) bred artists are recognized as Hippie Tribe. A fitting name as their blend of rock & roll, hip hop, alternative music along with their live instrumentation and overall mix of musical elements create a magnetic sound that sways further away from popular contemporaries with each listen.
Now, different does not always mean better. Yet, their organic approach to their sound is a direct result of the duo’s realization that some spaces aren’t meant for them and that their niche isn’t any particular sound, but rather an encapsulation of their influences. They don’t occupy a sub-genre of hip hop, or Rock or R&B, they are those genres and whatever else they choose to become.
Operating out of Brooklyn, the duo feel as though they have the world at their fingertips, Assured about what they bring to the table. The duo answered some questions for NYS Music.
NYS Music: What part of Brooklyn are you guys from?
dp.thuH: We stay out in Bedstuy. We aren’t originally from BK. I’m from Toledo, Ohio and Niko’s [blond.bomber] from Pittsburgh.
NYS Music: How did you guys come together?
blond.bomber: We’ve been making music together for about five years now. We met playing ball in college. We spent a lot of time before we decided to make music just talking about it. Freestyling at parties, chatting on why certain albums were better than others. It all happened real organic like.
NYS Music: Your music is very diverse and does not confine itself to any genre. How much do you feel if (any) did your environment play a part in that?
dp.thuH: It played a huge role. And it still does. Growing up in gospel choirs naturally shaped our eclectic ears. You can hear hella genres in gospel music – blues, jazz, funk, rock. Once I got my own headphones and smart phones came around, it was over. So our music is a reflection of the sounds we’ve been hearing our whole lives.
blond.bomber: And playing instruments and producing all of our music gives us an advantage too, we can really manipulate and shape our music so that it’s super palatable to the average listener. But still unique too.
NYS Music: Your LP on Apple Music is labeled as “Alternative Rap” but what would you guys label your style as?
dp.thuH: Honestly, I don’t really know. It fluctuates so much. Hip-Pop&B? Alternative Punk Rap? It’s just different for real. In the best ways, like it’s uniquely refreshing.
NYS Music: You call yourselves “Hippie Tribe,” is that because you guys see yourselves as musical outcasts? Or different from the norm? Even your individual names (dp.thuH & blond.bomber)
dp.thuH: I guess so, we definitely go against the grain with our shit. But I think I felt like an outcast my whole life. And it took me some time to accept it too but I realized I was moving further from my purpose the more I tried to integrate myself into places that were never meant for me. Truthfully, it’s not on purpose. I think we’re different because unfortunately, a lot of this world is made up of bullshitters and people looking for photo ops. People who like to hear themselves talk and say things just to say they said them later. We’re not just being different because it’s the cool thing to do. We got chosen for this shit – that’s why we’re different. And that’s why we take it dead ass serious. It’s our job to push the art further, really push boundaries.
blond.bomber: This is just how our brains work. And it’s beyond the music like Dee said, we’re mad unorthodox without trying. We speak in cursive and dream abstract. I don’t claim to be cool or none of that shit and I don’t try to be. I just know God loves me and my shorties love me and I try to treat every breath like it’s my last. We’re here to leave a legacy and you can’t do that tryna fit in. our homies say it all the time, we’ve just always been different.
blond.bomber
NYS Music: Describe your songwriting process.
dp.thuH: I think I’m like 70/30 when it comes to freestyling versus writing so it doesn’t take us long to make records once we have production, or vice-versa. It isn’t hard to produce once we have lyrics or a melody. We feel like we’re vessels so producing records top to bottom comes naturally. And there’s no ego in this so if one of us is like, ‘yo, I feel like you should change the flow here’ or ‘I think we should find a stronger way to say this bar,’ the other is all ears. It’s all about putting the best product together possible.
NYS Music: Why only 2 songs for Gullah Punk: mod 1?
blond.bomber: Gullah Punk: mod 1, is the first of several capsules we’ll be dropping. We’ve always been pretty eclectic with our sound but over the past couple of years, we’ve been really focused on creating dynamics within minimalistic production. We love to rap and we love to rage so rock and hip-hop tethered naturally. This two-pack is littered with those little moments of perfectly balanced raw emotion, vulnerability and disorderliness. These capsules will be both auditory and visual too, we’re releasing a series of film shorts leading up to a short film. We pitched our film to a few directors and now we’re blessed to have a whole ass incredible production company behind us believing in our vision and mission. Along with the drops, we also put together a few community events in Bed-stuy. So this music project has sort of turned into a living, breathing movement.
dp.thuH: The goal for this particular project rollout and accompanying events is two-fold; We love music and the arts so if our presence and efforts allow kids to discover a new passion or encourage others in the community to pursue theirs, perfect. The second piece is probably most important for us… we want to ignite a new mindset in our people that together, we have the tools necessary to rewrite our fate. The philosophy is simple – “Kill your demons”. But in order for us to get that done, we got to shine a light into the dark.”
dp.thuH
NYS Music: Do you guys consider yourselves abstract artists?
dp.thuH: To us, we’re just doing our thing. I kinda feel like we’re Queen when they first wanted to drop “Bohemian Rhapsody.” They’re banging coffee mugs against chandeliers and shit, singing until their voices can’t crack any more. And all that “abstract” stuff was just their process. It’s exactly the only way they knew how to get out whatever it was they were hearing in their heads. So I don’t know if we’re abstract artists. I don’t know if that’s something we can even say because it looks like 1+1 to us.
NYS Music: Is there any particular artist that influenced you guys’ sound?
blond.bomber: Particularly, no. And that’s not to say that we don’t have influences – it’s actually the opposite. We get influenced everyday by everything. You could be sitting at the park and words come to you or, with your homies or, having sex or, dreaming. We just let things flow as organically as possible. So, sometimes Dee will have a beat that inspires me or someone will come in with some bars they came up with on the random. We really just let the universe decide.
dp.thuH: Yea it’s hard to name particular artists because it’s such a fusion of hella sounds. But lately we’ve been listening to a lot of N.E.R.D, Nirvana, Yves Tumor, and Willow…
blond.bomber: Haley Williams.
dp.thuH: Yup. We’ve been getting some gnarly sounds out of it.
NYS Music: What are your goals in the music industry?
dp.thuH: Because we’re super-producers, we’ll be a powerhouse label soon, with some of the dopest artists under our wing, all while producing and writing songs for the biggest acts in the world. We’re going to have a full-blown production and multimedia company soon too. We’re already writing, directing and scoring our own visual projects so, we feel confident that with the right infrastructure, we’re going to make some serious noise before people can even blink. And we’re going to debunk the whole notion of celebrity. Because, we’re giving it all back to the streets. We’re about to revamp Bedstuy to be the hub for the best art, regardless of medium, in New York. Studios on every block, random installations on the sidewalks and in parks, immersive programs. We’re about to turn it all up.
Michael Lang, Woodstock Music and Arts Festival co-founder, and promoter of the 1994 and 1999 editions, has died at age 77, at Sloan Kettering in New York City. The cause of death was a rare form of Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, according to family spokesperson Michael Pagnotta.
Michael Lang at Woodstock 1969. Photo by Henry Diltz
Michael Lang was raised in Brooklyn and attended college at New York University and University of Tampa before eventually moved to Coconut Grove, Florida where he opened a head shop, which was, as Lang noted in his autobiography, “the hub of the Miami underground.” Lang would shift into concert promotion in the late 1960s, producing the Miami Pop Festival in 1968, which featured a lineup that included Chuck Berry, The Mothers of Invention, and Jimi Hendrix, among others.
Speaking of Miami Pop Festival, Lang told Ellen Sanders’ for the 1973 book Trips: Rock Life in the Sixties, “The climate is perfect, people are into a stimulating variety of artistic things and there was no place for them to get together.” The seeds of next year’s Woodstock Festival in Bethel, NY can be found in Lang’s mindset.
Miami Pop Festival 1968 Poster
Lang partnered up with Artie Kornfeld, a Bensonhurst, Queens native, who was then East Coast Director of Contemporary Entertainment at Capitol Records. The two hit if off after their initial meeting, one that was set up by Lang playing to Kornfeld’s roots, saying he was ‘from the neighborhood’. Lang would move in with Kornfeld and his wife Linda in New York City, and their all-night conversations would be the genesis of the Woodstock Festival, both the event and the cultural impact still felt today.
Lang and Kornfeld would connect with business partners Joel Rosenman and John Roberts while working with the band Train, and ultimately form Woodstock Ventures Incorporated in March 1969, named for the town Bob Dylan was living in at the time. Lang wrote in The Road to Woodstock “I thought it was time to head to back to New York. Ninety miles north of the city, Woodstock had become a magnet for musicians. I remembered its small-town, artsy vibe from when we used to visit there in the fifties. The town had a history of attracting artists and bohemians. My girlfriend Sonya and I decided to check it out for ourselves.”
Roberts and Rosenman brought the money and financial experience, while Lang and Kornfeld brought their own knowledge of rock music culture and production skills to pull off the event. Lang and Kornfeld had proposed building a recording studio in Woodstock, as a means to encourage local residents Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and The Band to record at, but the idea was scrapped in favor of an outdoor music festival.
Meeting in February 1969, Lang recalled an early interactions with Roberts and Rosenman:
We met with them in their apartment on 83rd Street in a high-rise. They were kind of preppy. Today, I guess they’d be yuppies. They were wearing suits. Artie did most of the talking, because I think they seemed puzzled by me. They were curious about the counterculture, and they were somewhat interested in the project. They wanted a written proposal, which we had but we didn’t bring with us. We told them that we would meet again with a budget for the festival.
Michael Lang
By the second time they met, a budget of $500,000 was discussed, with a potential attendance of 100,000. Ultimately, Woodstock would have a pricetag of more than $2.4 million (nearly $18 million in 2022 dollars), and would be billed as “Three Days of Peace and Music.” But the location for the festival would prove to be a challenge for Lang and company.
When he was younger, Lang spent summers attending camps in Sullivan County, home to Bethel, where he would later produce Woodstock and cement his name in music history. Initially looking into the town of Woodstock, the partners would settle on Wallkill in Orange County, While at first, the town and location were hospitable to the event, soon the residents turned on Woodstock Ventures, essentially pulling the plug for the festival on July 2, 1969.
The news caught the attention of a young Elliot Tiber, who was working at his family’s El Monaco Hotel in White Lake, and he alerted Lang to the location, just outside of Bethel. Lang later told the New York Times, “Elliot was part of the magic of Woodstock. Without his phone call bringing me to Bethel, Woodstock might never have happened, and for that I am eternally grateful.”
While the El Monaco Hotel would not be able to host the event as Tiber envisioned (it did serve as Woodstock Ventures headquarters over the next month), he did offer a suggestion to check out his friend Max Yasgur’s farm, located on Happy Ave in Bethel. Upon meeting Yasgur and securing the property, as well as agreeing to return the farm to its original condition post-festival, Lang made the move with a month to go before Woodstock was set to kick off. Lang was later portrayed by Jonathan Groff in Ang Lee’s 2009 film Taking Woodstock, based on Tiber’s memoir.
Yasgur’s Farm – during Woodstock Music Festival 1969, and today
The Upstate New York festival would draw more than 400,000 people to Yasgur’s farm, becoming a signature moment for the counterculture movement, at the end of one of the most tumultuous decades in American history. Musicians including The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, John Sebastian, Richie Havens, Sly and the Family Stone, Joe Cocker, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young all performed, among many other music legends.
Lang would later have a hand in the 25th anniversary Woodstock Festival, held in 1994 at Winston Farm in Saugerties, which would bring the Woodstock spirit and history to a new generation, catering to Generation X with artists including Nine Inch Nails, Green Day, Blues Traveler, Sheryl Crow, The Roots, Salt-n-Pepa, as well as bringing back artists from the original Woodstock, among them Country Joe McDonald, Crosby Stills and Nash, Joe Cocker and Santana.
photo by Steve Malinski
The ill-fated Woodstock 99 festival also saw Lang at the helm, this edition being held in Rome, NY on Griffiss Air Force and featuring a lineup that melded genres in a way that was both similar and dissimilar to previous Woodstock festivals. While the lineup provided a little something for everyone, subsequent price gouging, lack of basic infrastructure (water, bathrooms and shade among them) and intense heat culminated in an angst-filled riot that saw fires set as the Red Hot Chili Peppers closed out the festival. Lang would tell Syracuse.com in a 2019 interview:
In the end, it was partially my fault, partially the fault of the fans of Insane Clown Posse who were running amok all weekend. But at the end of the show, the Chili Peppers were on stage closing the festival. They had been given permission to hand out candles, and that was a mistake. [People] started to set things on fire, and it started to grow. It was a very different show, and a very different time musically. But overall, people had an amazing weekend.
Michael Lang on Woodstock 99
Lang made efforts to throw Woodstock 50 in 2019, but could not pull the event off due to local opposition as well as limited ticket sales, despite star-studded lineups and locations that included Watkins Glen International and Vernon Downs in Vernon, NY. The year-long effort to pull off a 50th anniversary event on par with the original was not in the cards, although there was a celebration at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts over the weekend of August 15-16, 2019.
When something pushes back as hard as this did, you have to get the sense that maybe there is a reason behind it.
Life is full of experiences, and not everything works out. But you keep trying or nothing works out… That’s always been my attitude.
Lang, speaking to Pollstar, reflecting on Woodstock 50
Michael Lang at the Long Island Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony 11/7/2018
I think if Mr. Ali were here with us today, he might rhyme that only together and with love, can we change this world for the better. But we have to earn it, we have to show up and fight for the issues we believe in, the way Ali would.
The fight against global warming as we near that point of no return… Sensible gun control, Immigration reform, Whatever your opinions, I know Muhammad Ali would tell you to make your voices heard and encourage everyone to get out and vote this year AND in 2020.
Michael Lang
Michael Lang is survived by his wife Tamara, their sons Harry and Laszlo, and daughters LariAnn, Shala and Molly.
Capital District native Todd Nelson has been creating music for a long time, and his band called the Nelson Esposito Quintana (NEQ for short) released their new single, “Threshold.” Accompanying the single and release of their new album Nevertheless, the NEQ will be playing at the Hollow Bar in Albany on February 18.
NEQ’s vision is to redefine the art of rock instrumental, with a post-modern approach. Utilizing the traditional makings of a band, with guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, percussion, NEQ rock out.
The most important thing is that the music connects with the listener emotionally, using the full range of emotions.
Todd Nelson
Nelson studied music theory at UAlbany in the 70s and while in college he played with a plethora of bands. He has shared the stage with the Police, Squeeze, the B-52s, XTC, and REM, and more.
His band, Fear of Strangers, was key to the Punk/New Wave scene in the Capital District in the 80s and held a reunion show with over 300 people in attendance.
Todd Nelson
Nelson has played in many more bands, and when asked if playing in a lot of bands affected him, he said not really.
It usually isn’t too difficult to juggle working in several bands…You just have to learn the material and review it before the gig. Having good musical ears and technique helps.
Nelson plays many different types of music, from jazz to rock to electronica. He doesn’t keep himself into one box but prefers to play one specific thing- his compositions.
The music I prefer to concentrate on is my own compositions, or music I’ve collaborated with someone on, or original music of someone else’s that I can contribute to. But as you may know it can be harder to find bookings playing original music, and I like to keep busy playing.
Nelson and his NEQ make rock instrumental music. Their new single “Threshold” is a nod to the 70s classic rock scene, with all things groovy and nice.
The band consists of guitarist Kyle Esposito and drummer Manual Quintana, who both work in other bands while devoting time to NEQ.
NEQ
Todd Nelson and NEQ will be playing at the Hollow Bar on February 18 to play their new album, a place that Nelson says he has played many times in the past. Tickets can be found here.
On Friday, March 25 and Saturday March 26, the music of the legendary Allman Brothers Band will be celebrated at New York City’s Beacon Theatre, honoring the 50th anniversary of Eat A Peach, which was released on February 12, 1972 and stands as one of the greatest albums of all time.
The Beacon Theatre has been home to more than 250 Allman Brothers Band shows throughout their storied career, and March 25th will mark the debut of Trouble No More, a group including Brandon “Taz” Niederaurer (guitar, vocals), Daniel Donato (guitar, vocals), Dylan Niederauer (bass), Jack Ryan (drums), Lamar Williams Jr. (vocals), Nikki Glaspie (drums), Peter Levin (keys) and Roosevelt Collier (pedal steel guitar).
A portion of the proceeds to benefit the Big House Foundation in the Allman Brothers Band’s hometown of Macon, GA. The primary mission of the Big House Foundation is to preserve and promote the rich musical heritage and inclusive diverse culture of the Allman Brothers Band through programs revolving around education and exhibition.
Composed of five white hippies and one African American, the Allman Brothers Band made quite a social impact in their home base and communal hub in Macon (and the current home of the Allman Brothers Band Museum), the Allman Brothers Band spread a message of peace, love and acceptance.
Due to overwhelming demand, Trouble No More will perform on Saturday, March 26 as well. Pre-sale tickets for the 50th anniversary celebration of Eat A Peach are now on sale, with ticket on sale set for Friday, January 21 at 10 AM EST.
